Device for decorticating fibrous leaves of plants.



'1. E. ASKEW,. I DEVICE FOR DECORTICA'TING FIBROUS LEAVES OF PLANTS.

. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3. I916. 83,01 30 amen-1'01 Patented July 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. E. ASKEW.

DEVICE FOR DECORTICATING FIBROUS LEAVES OF PLANTS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3. I916.

Lw lp Patented July 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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JOEL EDWARD ASKEW, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T THOMAS M. FAIRBAIRN, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

DEVICE FOR DECORTICATING FIBROUS LEAVES OF PLANTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 10, 1917.

Application filed October 3, 1916. Serial No. 123,573.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Join. EDWARD AsKnw,

a citizen of the United States, residing at San Antonio, in the county of Bexar and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Devices for Decorticating Fibrous Leaves of Plants, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for decorticating fibrous leaves of plants and has for its primary object the provision of means for conveying leaves of a plant in a suspended position into engagement with a combing drum for separating the fiber from the pulp of the leaves.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an endless conveyer having means for securing leaves thereto, whereby they may be conveyed into engagement with the combing drum to. comb or shred them, thus separating the fiber from the pulp.

Another object of this invention is to provide the drum so constructed that the leaves will be first engaged intermediate their ends and combed in the direction of their tips and later engaged adjacent their butts and combed to their tips, whereby the fiber is entirely separated from the pulp without the danger of the fiber becoming tangled.

A further'object of this invention is to provide a rack or trough to receive the upper run of the conveyor having its bottom wall slotted to allow the leaves suspended from the upper run of the conveyor to extend downwardly therethrough to be engaged by the combing drum to separate the fiber from the pulp, and providing means for guiding the leaves into engagement with the drum.

A further object of this invention is to provide a knife secured to the bottom wall of the rack or trough for severing the upper ends of the fiber from the butts of the 45 leaves as the combing drum combs the fiber from the pulp into stripsor shreds.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a drum having teeth thereon to engage or intermesh with the teeth of the combing drum to clean the teeth of the combing drum of pulp which may adhere thereto and which is not removed by the centrifugal force of the combing drum.

A still further object of this invention is 55 to provide a decorticating machine of the above stated character which shall be simple, durable, and efficient, and which may be manufactured and sold at a comparatively low cost, and which is of few parts and of light construction whereby the device may be transported upon pack animals.

Vith these and other objects in view will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings in which-- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a decorticating machine constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view partly in section of the same, illustrating the relation of the drums to the conveyer;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. l. is a sectional view taken on the line 4l4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5is a fragmentary plan view of the conveyor constructed from a plurality of links having means for securing a leaf to each link;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of thelinks illustrating a modified form of hook for securing the leaf to the link;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the conveyer illustrating the means of securing the links together, and

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view illustrating the means for adjusting the width of the trough or rack.

Referring in detail to the drawings the numeral 1 indicates a base having secured thereon transverse members 2, 3 and 4 and the transverse member 1 has a pair of relatively spaced vertical standards 1 secured thereto on which are mounted bearings 5. A transverse drive shaft 6 is journaled in the bearings and has secured thereon a pulley 7 to which a belt may be connected from an engine or other propelling power for rotating the drive shaft. Vertical standards 8 are secured to one of the ends of the members 2 and 3 and have mounted thereon bearings 9 inwhich is journaled a horizontal shaft carrying a combing drum 11' having a plurality of curved teeth 12 which are curvedfto extend in the direction of the rotation of the drum 11. The drum is of -a cylindrical formation and has one end reduced or of substantially conical shape for first combing half of the leaf and later combing the entireleaf as the leaves en'- gage the drum, which will be hereinafter more fully described. The shaft 10 extends forwardly through a bearing 13 formed on I an arm carried by one of the standards 4:

and has secured to its end a beveled gear 14c which meshes with a beveled gear 15 carried by one end of the drive shaft 6 for rotating the combing drum 11.

A vertical stand 16 is secured to one end the base'l andrhas journaled thereon a sprocket wheel 17. A similar sprocket wheel-18 is mounted on the drive shaft 6. An endless conveyer; 19 is mounted on the sprocket wheels 17- and 18 and consists of a plurality of substantially rectangular links 20 each of which having a hook 21 formed on one end thereof to engage the end member of the adjacent link to fasten the links together to form an endless conveyer. Each of the links 20-isprovided with a hook 22 formed on; one side and at one end thereof to receive the stem of a leaf toYsupport a 7 leaf to each link ina suspended position.

A pair of vertical standards 23 are secured to the members 2 and 3 and are positioned toone sideof the combing. drum 11.

Each of the standards 23 are bifurcated to form a pair of relatively spaced arms 24 to which is adjustably secured a rackor trough 25 for receiving the upper run of the conveyer 19,. The rack or trough has its bottom wall slotted throughout its length to allow the leaves suspended from the conveyer 19 to extend downwardly through the rack or trough;- tobe engaged by the teeth of the combing drumv 11 whereby the teeth will combthe fiberv from the-pulp the teeth upon the conical shaped portion ofthe drum beginningv their combing operation from a point intermediate the ends of the leaves direction of the tip or lindrical portion of the drum engage the leaves at their butt ends and comb the entire 7 leaf so that the fiber will not become tangled or'broken and also obviating'the danger of breaking'the teeth'upon the combing drum. Secured to the under face of the bottom of the rack or trough 25is a knife 26 which engages the'fiber of the leaves to sever the strands'of'fiber from the upper or butt ends of'the leaves.

Verticalfstandards27 are secured tothe endstofthemembers 23 oppositethe standards Shaving bearings 28 thereon to rotatably receivea shaft 29 which has secured to oneendrabeveledigear30 of smaller size than the bevel gear 14. The gear 30' meshes with a bevel gear 31 carried by the drive shaft 6 for rotating the shaft 29 in the same direction with the combing drum 11 but at a higher rate of speed. A cleaning drum 32 is mounted on the shaft 29' adjacent the combing drum 11 and has thereon a plurality of wire teeth which intermesh with the teeth of the combing drum to clean pulp therefrom. The cleaning drum 32 rotates in the same direction with the combing drum, butat a higher rate of speed to efliciently remove or clean the teeth of the combing drum of any pulp which may become caught or tangled thereon.

Referring to my modified form of fastening hooks as disclosed in Fig. (3, they are each constructed from resilient material, preferably of spring steel bolted or otherwise secured to one end of each link or at the sides thereof; The hooks thus constructed provide means whereby upon adjusting the width of the trough. or rack they will be forced, upon passing therethrough, to bend in the direction of the links tightly clamping the leaves.

In operation the drive shaft is rotated which drives the conveyer 19 through the sprocket wheel 18 and also rotates the drums 1 1 and 32. Leaves are then secured to the upper run of the conveyer before it enters. the rack or trough by the hooks. As the conveyer travels in the direction of the sprocket. wheel 18 the leaves travel through the rack or trough and depend downwardly through the slot therein andare engaged by the teeth of the combine drum and the fiber of the leaves is shredded by the rotation of the combing drum and the strands of fiber are severed at their upper ends from the pulp of the leaves by the knife upon the trough or rack. Asthe leaves pass along the lower run of the conveyer after being decortieated' the stalks are detached from their respective hooks leaving the hooks ready for new leaves.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be seen a device has been provided which will efficiently remove the fiber from the stalks of the leaves and which may be readily carried from one point to another at a minimum expense.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention it will be understood that minor changes in construction, combination and arrai'lgement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described Iclaim is:

1. A device of the character set forth comprising a base, a combing drum journaled on said base, means for rotating the drum, an endless conveyer mounted on the base, means for detachably securing leaves to the conveyer, a trough mounted on the base and having a slotted lower Wall throughout its length, means for driving the conveyer to cause the leaves to pass through the trough and into engagement With the combing drum to shred the leaves to obtain fiber therefrom, and a knife secured to the underface of the bottom Wall of the trough to sever the fiber When the leaves are shredded.

2. A device of the character set forth comprising a base, a combing drum journaled on said base, means for rotating the drum, a pair of sprocket Wheels mounted on the base, an endless conveyer mounted on the sprocket Wheels and consisting of a plurality of substantially rectangular links hinged together, a hook formed on each of said links for detachably securing leaves to the conveyer, and means for driving the conveyer to move the leaves into engagement with the combing drum.

3. A device of the character set forth comprising a base, a combing drum journaled on said base, means for rotating the drum, a pair of relatively spaced sprocket Wheels journaled on said base, an endless Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing conveyer consisting of a plurality of links hinged together and mounted on said sprocket Wheels, a resilient hook secured to each of said links for receiving stems of leaves to secure the leaves in a suspended position upon the conveyer, and means for driving the conveyer to move the leaves into engagement With the combing drum.

t A device of the character set forth comprising a base, standards carried by said base, oppositely disposed sprocket Wheels j ournaled on said standards, a horizontal combing drum journaled to the base, an endless conveyer mounted on the sprocket Wheels, a horizontally disposed trough carried by the base to receive the upper run of the endless conveyer, means for adjusting the Width of the trough to increase and decrease the tension on the conveyer, means for detachably securing leaves to the conveyer, and means for simultaneously rotating the drum and conveyor to decorticate the leaves.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOEL EDWARD ASKEW. Witnesses:

E. T. CRAIG, J on FLORY.

the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. G. 

